From Knowledge to Action

One of the key features of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is the relevance of domestic policy and performance to the achievement of the SDGs in other countries and at the global level (global responibility). However, there still is limited knowledge about these interlinkages and even more so little data comparable across countries. The recently relaunched German Sustainable Development Strategy claims a stronger focus on the "by Germany" component (action in Germany that has global impact) but fails provide sufficiently elaborated indicators and targets. International indices such as the SDG Index and Dashboards (SDSN and Bertelsmann Stiftung) and other instruments for the measurement of global responsibility have tried to address this issue. There is significant demand by governments, civil society, and the business sector to have better and comparable data in this field. Some stakeholders have developed measurement instruments of their own that are challenged by academia. Scientists are called upon to come up with proposals and solutions that can be understood by the broader public and can be included into strategy documents e.g. sustainablity strategies and then acted upon.